# Key features of LGBTQIA+ affirming care

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A simple way to build LGBTQIA+ affirming practices is to be guided by international laws and policies protecting the health and well-being of LGBTQIA+ people. These are based on the following principles based on international human rights law. This includes:
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<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><mark style="background-color:red;"><strong>Non-discrimination</strong></mark> in service delivery as well as access to services, treatment, care, support, and facilities based on their SOGIESC </td></tr><tr><td><mark style="background-color:orange;"><strong>Privacy and confidentiality</strong></mark> ensure that LGBTQIA+ people’s medical information and records are treated as sensitive data with respect and care. </td></tr><tr><td><mark style="background-color:yellow;"><strong>Autonomy</strong></mark> includes respect for a person’s self-determination and their ability to make informed decisions about their body, medical care, treatment and support.   </td></tr><tr><td><mark style="background-color:green;"><strong>Non-pathologization</strong></mark> affirms LGBTQIA+ people’s identity as a part of human diversity, instead of attempting to medicalize and cure LGBTQIA+ people’ SOGIESC. This includes avoiding unnecessary examinations that are devoid of a therapeutic or diagnostic purpose.</td></tr><tr><td><mark style="background-color:blue;"><strong>Informed consent</strong></mark> ensures that LGBTQIA+ patients are informed and empowered to make their own decisions about their medical care, treatment and support without discrimination based on their SOGIESC. </td></tr><tr><td><mark style="background-color:purple;"><strong>Best interest of the child</strong></mark> ensures that LGBTQIA+ children’s needs are heard, safeguarded and met without discrimination. </td></tr><tr><td><mark style="background-color:orange;"><strong>Intersectionality</strong></mark> is a key principle in understanding that people are diverse and the marginalization of their identities correlates with their health risks, their timeliness in seeking services, and their trust in health institutions. Intersectionality is a key principle in understanding that people are diverse and the marginalization of their identities correlates with their health risks, their timeliness in seeking services, and their trust in health institutions. </td></tr><tr><td><mark style="background-color:yellow;"><strong>Comprehensive, quality, specialized, and decentralized care</strong></mark> includes ensuring availability and accessibility of care as well as the adoption of policies, education programmes and training, and other necessary measures to enable persons working in the healthcare sector to deliver the highest attainable standard of healthcare to all persons, with full respect for each person’s SOGIESC. </td></tr></tbody></table>

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<summary><mark style="background-color:red;"><strong>Further reading</strong></mark></summary>

* [The State of Trans-Specific Healthcare in the EU: Looking Beyond the Trans Health Map 2022](https://www.tgeu.org/files/uploads/2023/11/TGEU-Trans-Health-Map-Report.pdf)
* [Spain’s national law on LGBTI people](https://www.boe.es/buscar/pdf/2023/BOE-A-2023-5366-consolidado.pdf)&#x20;
* [Data collection and management (2019) by the Independent Expert on SOGI](https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/2022-01/Report_on_data_summary.pdf)
* [Guidelines to Human Rights-based Trans-specific Healthcare](https://genderminorities.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/TGEU-Guidelines-to-Human-Rights-Based-Trans-specific-Healthcare-EN.pdf)

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